Editor’s Note: This story is the third installment of a four-part series called “Unkept Promises” about the lack of progress in four key areas since President Volodymyr Zelensky took office in May. Previous stories in the series examined why no one has been successfully prosecuted for the multibillion-dollar bank fraud of the last decade, and looked at the state of Ukraine’s unreformed law enforcement. The next installment will focus on Zelensky’s relations with oligarchs.
Despite a dramatic change in national leadership last year, some things remain the same in Ukraine. Among them are entrenched local elites, some of whom have held power for many years.
Last July, Zelensky considered calling for early elections in local governments, raising hopes that some of Ukraine’s long-entrenched players, especially controversial mayors accused of corruption and links to organized crime, might finally get voted out.
But since the summer, the administration has dropped its efforts to organize early local elections. Now, activists and analysts suspect that the Zelensky administration has opted to make a deal with local elites instead. According to analysts, the replacement of Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Bohdan with Andriy Yermak on Feb. 11 suggests that is indeed the case.
“Bohdan was fighting mayors like (Kyiv’s Vitali) Klitschko, but Yermak has a different style,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said. “Wherever possible, he’s trying to reach an agreement. He may reach deals with local elites.”
According to Fesenko, Zelensky and his team have most likely abandoned early elections because they have failed to meet legislative prerequisites, such as a new decentralization law, and because they lack strong mayoral candidates in major cities.
“There was a plan for a ‘blitzkrieg’ in local elections but life has derailed those plans,” he said.
Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov and Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes, who both face numerous criminal investigations, are as entrenched as ever. Those investigations have stalled or been obstructed, while both mayors remain firmly in charge.
“In a number of regions, (the administration) may reach deals with mayors if (the mayors) are loyal to them,” Fesenko said. “Although Kernes and Trukhanov are toxic, (the administration) will have to reach deals with them too if they don’t find strong candidates.”
Zelensky’s office’s press service said they couldn’t comment on the administration’s relations with the Ukrainian mayors. The press service of the mayors in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipro also declined to comment.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov inspect a bridge in Dnipro on July 12. Zelensky challenged Filatov to finish repairing the bridge by Sept. 14. The mayor opened it on time but concerns about the quality of the bridge and alleged corruption involved in its construction remain. (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Administration)
Klitschko’s resurgence
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who has held both the elected position of mayor and a presidential appointment as the head of the Kyiv city administration since 2014, appeared to be on the verge of losing power last year. But today Klitschko’s hold on power is as strong as ever.
In July, Bohdan initiated the firing of Klitschko as the head of the city administration, reportedly at Zelensky’s request, and the cabinet approved the decision in September. But Zelensky never signed the document or confirmed his dismissal.
Analysts say one reason may be Klitschko’s good relations with Yermak, who had gradually accumulated power in Zelensky’s administration before becoming his chief of staff on Feb. 11.
The New York Times and the Washington Post reported in January that Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for U. S. President Donald J. Trump and a central figure in the campaign to find dirt on Trump’s opponents in Ukraine that led to Trump’s impeachment, asked Yermak to help Klitschko keep his job last summer.
Giuliani acknowledged discussing Klitschko’s position in a meeting with Yermak in Madrid on Aug. 2.
Yermak also acknowledged that the two discussed Klitschko’s fate. Yermak said he told Giuliani that he had long known Klitschko and that he had the support of Kyiv’s citizens.
When Bohdan headed the Presidential Office, his friend Andriy Vavrysh, a controversial real estate developer and a former top official at the Kyiv city administration, enjoyed a return to influence in Kyiv. Vavrysh had been fired from the city administration in 2015. At that time, his department was accused of bribery but it didn’t lead to charges.
Klitschko still has strong electoral ratings. According to a Dec. 12–16 poll by Rating Group, Klitschko and Serhiy Prytula, an actor who was a parliamentary candidate for rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk’s Golos party, were the leading politicians in Kyiv, with approval ratings of 35 percent each. Klitschko and Prytula have disapproval ratings of 55 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
Oleksandr Tkachenko, a potential candidate for mayor from Zelensky’s team, lags far behind. Only 5.3 percent would vote for him in the mayoral election, according to a January poll by Interaction, a polling agency.
Odesa mob rule
Meanwhile, Odesa Mayor Trukhanov has become more and more toxic amid numerous corruption cases and alleged links to organized crime.
Currently, two such cases are on trial at the High Anti-Corruption Court.
In one of them, Trukhanov has been charged with failing to declare assets worth Hr 51 million and owned by his common-law wife, Tetiana Koltunova.
In the other, Trukhanov is accused of embezzling Hr 185 million by organizing a city council vote to buy an old building owned by the bankrupt Krayan plant at an inflated price. In July, an Odesa court acquitted him, but the anti-corruption court is considering an appeal against the verdict.
Trukhanov has also been investigated in several other cases. In one of them, there has been a setback. The case involves an investigation against Trukhanov for allegedly unlawfully selling Odesa International Airport in 2011.
In June, Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky’s office transferred the case from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to the police, who closed it in February.
Trukhanov denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
Local anti-corruption activists accuse Trukhanov and his alleged business partners, Alexander Angert and Vladimir Galanternik, of turning Odesa into a fiefdom, awarding the most lucrative land and municipal contracts to their own companies. An Italian police dossier from 1998 identified Trukhanov and Angert as members of a mafia gang.
Angert and Galanternik couldn’t be reached for comment.
However, Odesa anti-corruption activists Mykhailo Kuzakon and Oleh Mykhailyk say there is currently a conflict between Trukhanov and Galanternik, and it looks increasingly likely that Galanternik will support another candidate for mayor, even a candidate from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party.
“Galanternik is putting eggs in different baskets,” Kuzakon added. “He may even put one in Servant of the People.”
As Trukhanov, Galanternik, and Angert maintain their grip on the city, no one appears to be seriously trying to stop them. The new governor, the new head of the police and the new head of the Security Service of Ukraine’s branch in Odesa Oblast have not mounted a consorted fight against corruption, local activists say.
Vitaly Ustymenko, head of the AutoMaidan anti-corruption group’s Odesa branch, said that the region’s new chief prosecutor is the only one who is showing some sign of activity by fighting illegal construction. But Ustymenko says he is not sure this will continue for long.
According to a private poll conducted in February and cited by Odesa-based journalist Vera Zaporozhets, Trukhanov would get 40 percent in the mayoral election; Dmytro Golubov, an ex-lawmaker from former President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc, would receive 17 percent and pro-Russian politician Serhiy Kivalov would poll at 12 percent. About 7 percent would vote for a candidate backed by Zelensky, about 7 percent would support former Odesa Mayor Eduard Gurvits and 4 percent would vote for ex-Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili.
Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov and Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes (R) attend a congress of their political party Doveryai Delam (“Trust in Deeds”) in Kharkiv on June 2, 2019. Days later, the party joined forces with the Opposition Bloc, a pro-Russian party, to run together in the July 21 parliamentary election. (Photo by Oleg Petrasiuk)
Kharkiv strongman
Another influential powerbroker, Kharkiv Mayor Kernes, is also mired in criminal scandals. He has been charged with kidnapping two EuroMaidan activists, torturing them and threatening to kill them in January 2014. He denies these accusations.
In 2018, a Poltava court closed the kidnapping case. Kernes’ critics attribute the case’s closure to a deal with then-President Petro Poroshenko to support his re-election.
Some signs of hope for justice emerged on Jan. 31, when the Poltava Court of Appeals re-opened the kidnapping case.
Kernes has also been investigated for allegedly embezzling up to Hr 15 billion ($557 million) by allocating land to fake cooperatives. However, he has not been officially charged, and chances are low that the case will go to trial. Kernes has denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
“The chance (to prove his guilt) exists, but the criminal code allows manipulating the timing of the investigation, and it may take another 10 years,” Dmytro Bulakh, head of the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center, told the Kyiv Post.
Kernes, a political old-timer, is firmly rooted in place. He has managed to maintain control over Kharkiv since he became the city council’s secretary in 2006 and was elected mayor in 2010, surviving four presidents.
“Somehow he can motivate different presidents and top officials not to interfere in his field of expertise,” Bulakh said.
Bulakh argued that initially lawmakers elected in Kharkiv from Zelensky’s party had been given a command to confront Kernes, but, in recent months, they had not criticized him and had done nothing to oppose him. Bulakh also said that he had spoken to acting State Investigation Bureau Chief Iryna Venedyktova, a native of Kharkiv and a former lawmaker from Zelensky’s party, who he says expressed a loyal attitude to Kernes during their interactions. The press service of the State Investigations Bureau, headed by Venedyktova, didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Vadym Slyusarev, an aide to Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff, Serhiy Trofimov, was in charge of Servant of the People’s parliamentary campaign in Kharkiv, Bulakh added. He argued that Slyusarev, who used to be an aide to ex-Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka’s son Artem, enjoys goods relations with Kernes.
Kernes may have a channel to Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, through ex-lawmaker Elbrus Tedeyev. Tedeyev vouched for the mayor in court in 2014 in a separatism case, and Kernes is friends with his cousin, athlete Robert Tedeyev. Yermak used to be an aide to Elbrus Tedeyev from 2006 to 2014.
One of the problems is that Kernes remains popular. Kernes, ex-Kharkiv Oblast Governor Yulia Svetlichnaya and Oleksandr Feldman, a former member of the Party of Regions, would receive 50 percent, 14 percent and 8 percent of the vote, respectively, according to a Social Monitoring poll published in November.
Bulakh said, however, that Kernes may face fierce competition from other pro-Russian candidates like Mykhailo Dobkin, Feldman and a candidate from Viktor Medvedchuk’s Opposition Platform —particularly should they all run. He said a Zelensky-backed candidate can’t hope for more than 15 percent, and that Zelensky’s team is likely to back Kernes in the mayoral election.
“There’ll be nothing left of the Zelensky team’s (popularity) in Kharkiv by fall,” he said. In the July parliamentary elections, Zelensky’s party was supported by up to 40 percent of Kharkiv citizens.
Dnipro conundrum
In another of Ukraine’s largest cities, Dnipro, a group of powerful businesspeople has held sway since the “wild 1990s.” These include billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky and his former business partners Hennady Korban and Borys Filatov.
In 2015 Filatov added political power to the group’s business empire by becoming the city’s mayor. Since then the group has experienced a complex power struggle as Filatov and Korban have fallen out with Kolomoisky. However, Artem Romanyukov, head of Dnipro’s Civic Control anti-corruption watchdog, says that Kolomoisky is still powerful in Dnipro politics and influences Filatov, although their relations are not as good as they used to be. His observation is based on the fact that Kolomoisky’s media have stopped its criticism of Filatov, which used to be relentless when the relationship turned sour.
Head of the Dnipro Oblast Council, Svyatoslav Oliynyk, worked for Kolomoisky and was his deputy during the oligarch’s stint as the region’s governor in 2014–2016.
A Nov. 25 investigation by the Bihus.info investigative journalism project aimed to demonstrate that Korban has become the de facto “shadow mayor” of Dnipro. Bihus.info filmed numerous city officials regularly visiting Korban’s residence. They said they were doing it to seek advice or support.
In the past, Filatov supported Poroshenko and initially had complex relations with Zelensky. However, political analyst Fesenko thinks that he has partially adapted to the new authorities.
During a visit to Dnipro in July, Zelensky challenged Filatov to finish repairing the central bridge, which was closed in 2017, and to resign if this does not happen.
In September, Filatov opened the bridge but Zelensky didn’t stop: he sent a commission to check its quality. Kolomoisky’s media, which supported Zelensky, were very critical of Filatov and the quality of the renovation. Then, all criticism came to a stop.
“Now everyone (from Zelensky’s team) has suddenly forgotten about Filatov in the public realm,” Romanyukov added.
According to a Rating Group poll published in December, Filatov had an approval rating of 43 percent and a disapproval rating of 43 percent.
Romanyukov argued that, since Zelensky does not have a viable mayoral candidate, he is likely to back Filatov. However, Filatov isn’t guaranteed a re-election: a pro-Russian candidate like ex-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Oleksandr Vilkul could be a strong competitor for him, Romanyukov added. In 2015, Filatov beat Vilkul in the mayoral election by a narrow margin.
